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Restoring Pride: The Lost Virtue of Our Age
Rejecting the popular notion that everyone is equal and, therefore, ought to be equally proud, Richard Taylor defines pride as justified love of oneself. What justifies this self-love is personal excellence, that is, actual achievement of the kind that sets a proud person apart from the rest. Examples of the justifiably proud include Socrates, Ludwig van Beethoven, Malcolm X, Willa Cather, Pablo Picasso, and Amelia Earhart. However, pride is not a virtue reserved only for the famous. People unknown to the world often possess a greatness equal to that of the most renowned heroes. The truly proud are those who excel in some worthwhile area, be it literature, science, or good parenting. Their excellence is based on some ability or strength that they exploit to its fullest potential.
Restoring Pride is "elitist" in that it acknowledges that some people are better as human beings than others, and that they have made themselves so by perfecting their natural talents. The idea of the Sermon on the Mount, that the poor and the meek are blessed, is repudiated. Instead, Taylor embraces the classical Greek ideal of virtue as personal excellence without any suggestion that everyone is equal in worth.
The proud, setting the rules and standards for themselves, are apt to be looked on as unconventional. However, one invariable rule guides their behavior toward others: considerateness. The same egalitarian standard applies to their treatment under the law in a democratic society.
While concerned with the rules of manners, Restoring Pride is not a book of etiquette. Making no effort at "political correctness," it espouses, in a straightforward and jargon-free style, an ideal of life, exhorting us all to explore and cultivate the gifts within us, and thus to enjoy the fruits of genuine pride.
Restoring Pride is "elitist" in that it acknowledges that some people are better as human beings than others, and that they have made themselves so by perfecting their natural talents. The idea of the Sermon on the Mount, that the poor and the meek are blessed, is repudiated. Instead, Taylor embraces the classical Greek ideal of virtue as personal excellence without any suggestion that everyone is equal in worth.
The proud, setting the rules and standards for themselves, are apt to be looked on as unconventional. However, one invariable rule guides their behavior toward others: considerateness. The same egalitarian standard applies to their treatment under the law in a democratic society.
While concerned with the rules of manners, Restoring Pride is not a book of etiquette. Making no effort at "political correctness," it espouses, in a straightforward and jargon-free style, an ideal of life, exhorting us all to explore and cultivate the gifts within us, and thus to enjoy the fruits of genuine pride.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1995
17 people are currently reading
997 people want to read
About the author
Richard Taylor
24 books23 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database named Richard Taylor.
Richard Taylor was an American philosopher known for his dry wit and Socratic approach, and an internationally-known beekeeper. He received his Ph.D. at Brown University, and taught principally there as well as at Columbia and the University of Rochester, from which he retired in 1985.
Richard Taylor was an American philosopher known for his dry wit and Socratic approach, and an internationally-known beekeeper. He received his Ph.D. at Brown University, and taught principally there as well as at Columbia and the University of Rochester, from which he retired in 1985.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 26, 2019
Some of the ideas of this book are interesting, but not very convincing if you take a moment to think of anything contrary to what Mr. Taylor is saying. Mr. Taylor uses many of Daniel Dennett's famously mocked "weak argument tricks" to move his text forward; so Mr. Taylor's foundation is weak. I thought of many things counter to his "argument" when "Only a fool would disagree"... or "surely..." etc....
The text is tedious, not because the diction is difficult, but because the same ideas are repeated ad nauseum. I honestly wonder if the publisher forced Richard Taylor to put in "filler text" because his initial text was "too short." The text carried on like a paper written by a kid who had nothing to say from about pg.45 until section 3 at page 205.
Section 3, on fulfillment and creativity, was interesting, maybe a total of 30 pages at the end of the book. Section 3, the first 45 pages of the book [the book starts on page 15, so really the first 30 pages] on "Stoic goodness," and pages 108-112 on the "function" of humans are the only parts worth reading. So really, only 64 pages are worth reading, and not because I agree with them, but because they are interesting. These lone pages bump the text from 1 star to 2 stars. If the book was only these 64 pages, the book might be worth 3 stars.
This book did improve my understanding of the Stoics, so I found some value here. However, Seneca was echoing through my mind through most of this text, telling me my time is my most precious commodity, do not waste it, making me wonder if I should just stop reading this text due to the tedious repeating of ideas that were wasting my time.
This text seems to take "a leap of faith" through Stoicism and Aristotle's texts, in the way that the Absurdist philosopher Albert Camus critisized existential thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre or Søren Kierkegaard with their idea of "having the freedom to define your meaning." It seems that the author finds more meaning or fulfillment in some actions than others, based on, what appears to be Stoic or ancient Western Philosophy metanarratives of "what is fulfilling, or meaningful, or satisfies eudaimonia."
This book's arguments lean heavily on Aristotle's discussion of the importance of function, specifically, how when compared to other animals, humans excel at thinking. This book oversimplifies the human condition, then draws conclusions from the oversimplification. My personal feeling is that this texts feels a bit "late" when other texts of the human condition, like Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" or Gilles Deleuze's ideas of "flows" weigh in.
Overall, mildly interesting. For the main themes of this book, I believe Seneca did it better, and Seneca's "letters to a Stoic" are far less tedious while being much more to the point. Unfortunately, I have not yet read Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus, but my guess is that your time would be better spent reading the original Stoics before you pick up this text.
The text is tedious, not because the diction is difficult, but because the same ideas are repeated ad nauseum. I honestly wonder if the publisher forced Richard Taylor to put in "filler text" because his initial text was "too short." The text carried on like a paper written by a kid who had nothing to say from about pg.45 until section 3 at page 205.
Section 3, on fulfillment and creativity, was interesting, maybe a total of 30 pages at the end of the book. Section 3, the first 45 pages of the book [the book starts on page 15, so really the first 30 pages] on "Stoic goodness," and pages 108-112 on the "function" of humans are the only parts worth reading. So really, only 64 pages are worth reading, and not because I agree with them, but because they are interesting. These lone pages bump the text from 1 star to 2 stars. If the book was only these 64 pages, the book might be worth 3 stars.
This book did improve my understanding of the Stoics, so I found some value here. However, Seneca was echoing through my mind through most of this text, telling me my time is my most precious commodity, do not waste it, making me wonder if I should just stop reading this text due to the tedious repeating of ideas that were wasting my time.
This text seems to take "a leap of faith" through Stoicism and Aristotle's texts, in the way that the Absurdist philosopher Albert Camus critisized existential thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre or Søren Kierkegaard with their idea of "having the freedom to define your meaning." It seems that the author finds more meaning or fulfillment in some actions than others, based on, what appears to be Stoic or ancient Western Philosophy metanarratives of "what is fulfilling, or meaningful, or satisfies eudaimonia."
This book's arguments lean heavily on Aristotle's discussion of the importance of function, specifically, how when compared to other animals, humans excel at thinking. This book oversimplifies the human condition, then draws conclusions from the oversimplification. My personal feeling is that this texts feels a bit "late" when other texts of the human condition, like Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" or Gilles Deleuze's ideas of "flows" weigh in.
Overall, mildly interesting. For the main themes of this book, I believe Seneca did it better, and Seneca's "letters to a Stoic" are far less tedious while being much more to the point. Unfortunately, I have not yet read Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus, but my guess is that your time would be better spent reading the original Stoics before you pick up this text.
December 11, 2014
A self-help book that will never make it as such because of its disregard for what is considered politically correct nowadays. It's not quite philosophy, but a good way to spread some ideas developed by thinkers. And it is quite well written as well.
October 30, 2018
There are three parts of this book.
Part 1 is an honest (somewhat brutally) description of the meaning of pride. The author has kept political correctness at one side and expressed his views, quite freely, on personal excellence and the higher worth of those who pursue it. His remarks on the people exhibiting a ‘plodding existence’ can be considering scathing. However, the ideas become a little repetitive.
Part 2 is about manners and how proud people should behave. This seemed completely pedantic and outdated considering today’s age of rapid communication of thoughts and ideas - leading to seamless and simultaneous assimilation of various sub-cultures into mainstream thereby transforming age-old norms.
Part 3 is about happiness and mostly derived from part 1. The difference between happiness and pleasure was a good read, though.
Apart from the above, the introduction is quite well written and naturally draws attention of any serious reader.
Part 1 is an honest (somewhat brutally) description of the meaning of pride. The author has kept political correctness at one side and expressed his views, quite freely, on personal excellence and the higher worth of those who pursue it. His remarks on the people exhibiting a ‘plodding existence’ can be considering scathing. However, the ideas become a little repetitive.
Part 2 is about manners and how proud people should behave. This seemed completely pedantic and outdated considering today’s age of rapid communication of thoughts and ideas - leading to seamless and simultaneous assimilation of various sub-cultures into mainstream thereby transforming age-old norms.
Part 3 is about happiness and mostly derived from part 1. The difference between happiness and pleasure was a good read, though.
Apart from the above, the introduction is quite well written and naturally draws attention of any serious reader.
December 16, 2020
I don't like writing reviews. I think they are conceited as it says more about the person reviewing the book than the actual book.
Nonetheless, I took a pill of self-righteousness this morning and shall give a review of this out-of-print book that should NOT be out of print.
This book talks about pride, but not in the sense of arrogance but in the sense of justified self-love. Having read countless books, completed therapy, and accepting my full capacities as a human being, I've come to love myself more. I thought I had foolish pride, but I still kept it, because it felt right. It felt justified. I knew this pride was integral for me in living a life that is honest and authentic. But I didn't want to parade it to the world, since I knew they would not understand it.
Then this book opened my eyes to the more accurate terms of pride and goodness. It made me realize that the self-love I have is justified. All the pagan philosophers of Ancient Greece spoke readily about the person that is good, not in the sense of being kind to others, but of having a great soul. And when people have a great soul, they have earned this justified self-love.
Because no matter what happens to them in this world, they still have that self-love. This book isn't here to blow smoke either. Richard Taylor gives every day and prominent examples to prove his point. My favorite example that he explains in the book is Malcolm X.
Malcolm X was a petty thief known as Malcolm Little. Then he went to jail, where he tended to himself through education, books, debate, and religion. Then when he came out of jail, he became Malcolm X as we know him. You have to understand, Malcolm X had justified self-love because no matter what happened in his life, he had himself. He transformed himself from a lost and vulgar soul to one of greatness. He carried this pride with him everywhere. From his debates, conflicts, and day-to-day living. Malcolm X even carried this pride, knowing that he would get killed.
Think about that!
Having enough justified self-love to be okay with the fact that you're going to get killed. You have to understand, Malcolm X knew that, whether he was alive or not, he had that justified self-love and respect. When you have that internal peace, the fear of death vanishes. Because it is only at this point you know you could not have lived any better. As Seneca once said, 'He has peace of mind who has lived his entire life every day.'
We live in a world where people live in the externals (wealth, status, etc) too much and don't tend to their internal world.
Why is it that today in the West we have so much, yet are the least happy?
Many people today do not have justified self-love and few will ever have it.
But that does not have to remain for you.
Resolve your internal conflicts, build that confidence, build it all! And through this, you will be able to transform yourself into someone you always knew you could be. This is how you find your justified self-love.
This book is worth reading, however, this book will be more meaningful if you first deal with any internal issues you have. Because without resolving that nagging anxiety, low-self esteem, etc, you will not fully grasp this book.
If you've read this far, then let this be the sign to resolve whatever inner conflicts you have, so that when it is time to take on the external world, it will be a lot easier than if you were always fighting yourself during the journey.
Farewell and let the rest of your life be the best times of your life!
Nonetheless, I took a pill of self-righteousness this morning and shall give a review of this out-of-print book that should NOT be out of print.
This book talks about pride, but not in the sense of arrogance but in the sense of justified self-love. Having read countless books, completed therapy, and accepting my full capacities as a human being, I've come to love myself more. I thought I had foolish pride, but I still kept it, because it felt right. It felt justified. I knew this pride was integral for me in living a life that is honest and authentic. But I didn't want to parade it to the world, since I knew they would not understand it.
Then this book opened my eyes to the more accurate terms of pride and goodness. It made me realize that the self-love I have is justified. All the pagan philosophers of Ancient Greece spoke readily about the person that is good, not in the sense of being kind to others, but of having a great soul. And when people have a great soul, they have earned this justified self-love.
Because no matter what happens to them in this world, they still have that self-love. This book isn't here to blow smoke either. Richard Taylor gives every day and prominent examples to prove his point. My favorite example that he explains in the book is Malcolm X.
Malcolm X was a petty thief known as Malcolm Little. Then he went to jail, where he tended to himself through education, books, debate, and religion. Then when he came out of jail, he became Malcolm X as we know him. You have to understand, Malcolm X had justified self-love because no matter what happened in his life, he had himself. He transformed himself from a lost and vulgar soul to one of greatness. He carried this pride with him everywhere. From his debates, conflicts, and day-to-day living. Malcolm X even carried this pride, knowing that he would get killed.
Think about that!
Having enough justified self-love to be okay with the fact that you're going to get killed. You have to understand, Malcolm X knew that, whether he was alive or not, he had that justified self-love and respect. When you have that internal peace, the fear of death vanishes. Because it is only at this point you know you could not have lived any better. As Seneca once said, 'He has peace of mind who has lived his entire life every day.'
We live in a world where people live in the externals (wealth, status, etc) too much and don't tend to their internal world.
Why is it that today in the West we have so much, yet are the least happy?
Many people today do not have justified self-love and few will ever have it.
But that does not have to remain for you.
Resolve your internal conflicts, build that confidence, build it all! And through this, you will be able to transform yourself into someone you always knew you could be. This is how you find your justified self-love.
This book is worth reading, however, this book will be more meaningful if you first deal with any internal issues you have. Because without resolving that nagging anxiety, low-self esteem, etc, you will not fully grasp this book.
If you've read this far, then let this be the sign to resolve whatever inner conflicts you have, so that when it is time to take on the external world, it will be a lot easier than if you were always fighting yourself during the journey.
Farewell and let the rest of your life be the best times of your life!
February 9, 2021
This book contains some good ideas, and is therefore worth a skim. It is however extremely tedious. The author appears unable to gauge the intelligence of his audience and constable appears to speaking down to them. Points that are easily grasped at the first reading are repeated ad nauseam.
But still, it contains some good, though not original thoughts, so this might be a good one to practice speed-reading on.
But still, it contains some good, though not original thoughts, so this might be a good one to practice speed-reading on.
November 23, 2020
This book defines pride, and then explains why it is a good thing through several examples. The book takes a through-and-through Greek cultural stance versus the Christian in the internal struggle of Western civilization.
Some good information in there about authenticity, especially regarding a dying friend or relative.
Explains the difference between proper, earned pride and unearned arrogance, although the author seems to have a personal vendetta against medical doctors.
Some good information in there about authenticity, especially regarding a dying friend or relative.
Explains the difference between proper, earned pride and unearned arrogance, although the author seems to have a personal vendetta against medical doctors.
October 2, 2020
overly repetitive, the entire book could have been done in under 100 while still preserving the same ideas
March 24, 2024
Great point but overly long
November 9, 2023
I thought this book was written by a 4channer before I looked up the author. The introduction was very simple and edgy, which nearly put me off reading the book. However, I'm glad I kept going.
There were a few misunderstandings by the author of certain philosophies and these misunderstandings weren't explored in depth. There was also a paragraph which stated a question and disregarded the question as unnecessary and stupid, which was completely out of line. Every question deserves to be explored, no matter how stupid. Especially since I, the reader, wanted to know the answer.
Other than this, the book did a good job of exploring what seems to be a high self-esteem in a manner that tried to clarify the symptoms and signs of a true and false pride. The ending was particularly good, as it explained the different of being content to that of being happy.
There were a few misunderstandings by the author of certain philosophies and these misunderstandings weren't explored in depth. There was also a paragraph which stated a question and disregarded the question as unnecessary and stupid, which was completely out of line. Every question deserves to be explored, no matter how stupid. Especially since I, the reader, wanted to know the answer.
Other than this, the book did a good job of exploring what seems to be a high self-esteem in a manner that tried to clarify the symptoms and signs of a true and false pride. The ending was particularly good, as it explained the different of being content to that of being happy.
August 17, 2023
Yes. We are born equals. But we're not built equals. Building oneself above the rest requires hard work, sacrifice, focus and commitment. You must pay the price to reach the top.
This book starts off really well but ends into a very typical generic message. Would've given 5 stars, had I not read it till the end.
This book starts off really well but ends into a very typical generic message. Would've given 5 stars, had I not read it till the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews